Chuck vs Zombies!
by HighwayStar76
Summary: After the zombie apocalypse strikes the globe, Chuck fights for survival.  Rated T mostly for zombie related atrocities.


_A/N: Well, it certainly has been awhile since I uploaded anything on here. Details about what's planned should be on my profile. As for this thing, just came to me after watching Zombieland. I'll update this sporadically. It's just something I did for fun. Kudos to TheJusta for beta-ing._

**Chuck vs. Zombies!**

Chapter 1

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck opened his eyes, then immediately shut them. The light was too bright, causing stabbing pains behind his eyes. He groaned in discomfort then heard a familiar sound.

Chuck instantly recognized the sound of a gun being cocked, another reason he so despised his double life. Knowing when he had a gun pointed at him just by a simple sound was somewhat disturbing.

Lifting his face off his steering wheel, he turned towards the noise and found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. He slowly lifted his hands.

"Say something," a female voice commanded.

"Don't shoot," was all he could think of.

The gun was lowered and Chuck saw himself staring into a pair of vivid green eyes.

"Pop the hood," the woman ordered, leaning her gun against the driver's side front wheel.

Chuck leaned back into his seat and groaned. His whole body ached. He started looking around, and not recognizing his surroundings, wondered where the hell he was.

"Hey, pop the hood!" said woman loudly.

Grimacing, Chuck reached for the hood release and pulled it. Chuck saw the woman push the hood up and begin inspecting the engine. Catching a glimpse of himself in the broken rearview mirror, he saw the left side of his face was covered in blood.

Gingerly bringing a hand to his face, he winced when his fingers located the gash along his hairline. The wound appeared to have stopped oozing blood, but it still was throbbing. Undoing his work tie, he used it as a makeshift bandage and wrapped it around his head.

Getting out the car proved difficult. The driver's side door was caved in and wouldn't open. He climbed across the center console and out the passenger door. As he pulled himself upright, he grimaced again, bringing a hand to his side. 'Probably cracked a few ribs,' he thought miserably.

Taking a look around, he was in a natural area that the highway seemed to cut through. Judging by the crushed vegetation behind the Herder, he deduced that he must have been run off the road and down the side of the hill into a tree.

"Well, everything looks good," the woman said, "but I don't know much about cars."

Chuck was still standing there, looking around. He couldn't remember what happened. He'd been on his way to Santa Clarita for an install one minute, then woke up the next with a gun in his face. He'd been run off the road, obviously, but he was missing something, something important.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw Sarah's picture. Sarah! Chuck hastily tried to call her, but it wouldn't go through.

"Phones don't work. Have to use a land line, and they're sketchy at best," the woman said, but Chuck wasn't listening.

Chuck looked at his watch. It read 11:00 am. 'That can't be right,' he thought. 'Sun's too far west. It's broke, which means the GPS is broke.'

"What time is it?" Chuck asked, still going through his phone.

"A little after four. Why?" the woman asked curiously.

"This doesn't make sense," Chuck muttered. He'd been out of contact for way too long. Why hadn't they called? Or come find him? There was a GPS tracker on the Herder, so they should know where he is. Or maybe that was disabled too?

"Hey, dude," the woman said, interrupting his musings.

Chuck stared at her, really seeing her for the first time. She was around 5'5, with medium length black hair, which she'd pulled into ponytail. Chuck would have guessed her age somewhere in the mid 20's, but she could have been sixteen for all he knew. Wearing hip hugger jeans and a form fitting white tee, she would have looked stunning, if not for the spattered blood across her clothes, and the sash full of shotgun rounds.

"Who are you?" Chuck asked.

"Name's Andi," she said. "We should get a move on and find some place to hole up for the night." She started walking towards his car and began to climb into the driver's side window.

"Wait wait wait," Chuck sputtered, holding his hand up in front of him to get her to stop. "I'm confused. Who do you work for? What happened to my team? What's going on? Why do you look like the female equivalent of Rambo?"

She gave him a confused look. "I'm a college student. I'm not sure about your team, whatever that is. As for what's going on," she let out a hollow chuckle, "all hell has broken loose and I'm trying to stay alive."

Chuck brought a hand to his head. Maybe that blow to the head killed him, and this was some sort of purgatory.

"What does that mean?"

She frowned. "Where have you been all day?"

"Down here, obviously, not knowing what the hell is happening. One minute, I'm driving to do a job in Santa Clarita, the next I'm waking up with a shotgun in my face."

She dropped her head and sighed. "What's your name?"

"It's Chuck."

"Well, Chuck, get in the car. Hopefully they still got an emergency broadcast going." And with that, she entered the car. Chuck opened the passenger door and climbed in. Starting the car, Andi fiddled with the radio station until they actually found one that was broadcasting.

"_Repeating. The epidemic appears to be global. Reports from all around the world indicate that the virus has appeared in Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Please stay inside your residence and listen to the broadcast. We will attempt to convey the locations of safe havens that are being erected all over the country._

"_Repeating. It appears that global virus has affected nearly the entire population. We are unsure of what it is at this time, or how it is transmitted, but it apparently causes the dead to come back to life with an appetite for human flesh. If you come into contact with any of those that are affected, be advised the only way to kill them is to destroy the brain. Repeat, destroy the brain."_

Chuck had heard enough, and hastily turned off the radio.

"Is this some kind of joke? Am I on Punk'd or something?"

Andi just stared at him, eyes swimming with sadness. Chuck wouldn't, no, couldn't believe it.

"Zombies? Really?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I've seen them. My best friend..." she paused, swallowing before continuing on in a thick voice, "got taken by them. They ripped her apart," she finished softly, a lone tear escaping to run down her cheek.

Chuck brought the heel of his hand to his forehead and grimaced. He tried to think, but nothing was making sense. Admittedly, the headache and likely concussion weren't helping, but zombies?

"Was it a terrorist attack of some kind? Some kind of biological agent or something?" Chuck asked.

"I don't think so. It's global and it's affecting everyone. You're the first person I've run into that hasn't been infected," she finished quietly, looking at him.

Chuck found her gaze too intense, so he turned away.

A low moan got both of their attentions. Both turning around in their respective seats, they were able to a see middle aged man, or what appeared to be one, approaching them. Andi turned around, took a deep breath, then climbed out of the window. Raising the shotgun, she took aim.

"What are you doing?" Chuck hissed.

"I'm killing it," Andi replied.

"It? It's a person," Chuck argued.

"No, it's not. Get out and look for yourself."

Chuck bit back a retort, but he did get out of the car.

The man was about 20 feet away, limping towards them. What skin they could see, and which wasn't covered in blood, had a grayish tint to it. The thing's eyes were yellow and hungry. The mouth was hanging open and a good portion of the left cheek was missing, as was the right hand. The right leg was broken and stuck at an odd angle, causing the man to drag it across the ground. But the most disturbing feature, and what caused Chuck to lose what was left in his stomach, was that the abdominal cavity had been opened and the innards were dangling in front of it like wind chimes.

As Chuck was retching, Andi raised the shotgun again. Taking aim, she fired, hitting her target. The silence was shattered by the blast, and a smattering of birds vacated the nearby trees. The shot caught the zombie right in the nose, taking the top half of it's head clean off. The body fell to the ground, finally at rest.

"Believe it now?" Andi asked Chuck, as he brought himself into a standing position.

Wiping his mouth, he nodded.

"Well," Andi said, "we should probably see if this car works. We need to find a place for the night to hole up in. I really don't wanna be out in the dark with those things."

Chuck silently agreed.

"So, where to?" she asked.

Chuck had a small smile form on his face. He knew the perfect place.

"We gotta get to Burbank," he said.

Andi shook her head. "No chance."

"Why not?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "LA's in ruins. Look, those things are everywhere. We need to stay away from highly populated areas. The more remote, the better. Odds are the virus or whatever it is hasn't reached those areas yet."

Chuck saw the logic in her argument, but Castle would be the perfect place to hole up. With a three year food supply, generators, and contact with anyone in the government, it was ideal.

"I know that, but..." Chuck paused.

"But what?" Andi asked, crossing her arms.

"I know this is going to sound crazy..."

"More crazy than zombies now walking the earth?" she quipped.

Chuck mulled that, moving his head back and forth a little. "It's right up there. Look, I'm a government operative." It sounded better than asset.

Andi snorted and started laughing hysterically.

"What? I am. I know I may not look it, being lanky in build, but I do work for the government."

She was still laughing, holding herself up by leaning on her gun.

"Look, I have a base of operations in Burbank. My facility would be the perfect place to hole up. Tons of food, warmth, electricity, and guns. We'll be set until this whole thing is figured out."

Still grinning, Andi said, "Okay Chuck, get into the car. I'll think of something. Looks like that blow to the head really did a number on you."

Getting a little annoyed, Chuck got in the passenger seat again, Andi next to him in the driver's seat. Chuck pressed a series of buttons on the radio console and the back seat flipped, revealing a small cache of weapons.

"Believe it now?" Chuck asked with grin.

Mouth open in astonishment, Andi closed it with a pop as her teeth collided. Then she looked at her watch, and shook her head.

"We can't do it now. It'll be dark soon. Let's find a place for the night and then we can go tomorrow morning."

Chuck nodded. "So, where should we go?"

"I don't know. I was thinking of driving into the forest. Find a trail, and hopefully we can get to a cabin or something."

"Sounds like a plan," Chuck agreed.

For over a half hour, the pair rode in silence. They found a trail rather quickly and drove along it until they ran into a park ranger out-post. Andi grabbed the shotgun, and Chuck grabbed the MP5 that was in the middle of the weapons cache. He had a little trouble loading the magazine, and had to search for a bit to find the safety. Rather than thumbing it off and risk killing Andi and himself, he kept the safety on.

Pushing the door in, Chuck entered the building, MP5 raised and looking ready. The single room was empty, save for a chair and desk. Andi didn't want to risk getting cut off from the gear, so they unloaded everything into the cabin. Chuck searched the vehicle for some sort of food, pillow, or blanket. All he was a laundry bag containing towels. Dirty towels, he discovered after pulling one out and sniffing.

'Dammit,' he thought, 'why is mine the only vehicle not equipped for survival?'

Quickly stuffing the foul smelling item back into the bag and closing it, hopefully trapping the smell, Chuck locked the doors to his Herder.

"All I found was this," Chuck said, holding the bag. "We can use it as a pillow."

Andi nodded. "Okay, help me with this."

Together, the duo moved the table and chair in front of the door. It wouldn't stop much, but the thing Andi killed wasn't moving very fast. Chuck was at least thankful that these were Romero zombies, not these new ones the movies made, so odds were one of them couldn't get through the door.

As darkness descended on them, Chuck asked, "Should one of us stay awake?"

"Yeah, probably."

"I can take first watch. After all, I had a nice nap this afternoon," he finished with a small grin.

Andi smiled weakly and nodded.

Chuck sat with his back against the wall, legs sprawled out in front of him. He was thumbing through the photos of himself and Sarah on his phone, a bittersweet smile on his face. They either thought he was dead or they were dead. That's why they hadn't come for him. Odds were he'd never see her again. He sniffed softly, eyes threatening to overflow.

Andi, who had been lying next to him, whimpered quietly. With moonlight streaming into the cabin through the windows, Chuck saw that her body was shaking and she was sobbing. While Chuck wasn't sure he could handle what tomorrow was sure to bring, likely a firefight with thousands of zombies, comforting someone in need was right up his alley.

Chuck turned his phone off and put it into his pocket. He then slid down next to Andi and pulled her to him. She was freezing. She rolled over and burrowed into his side. Tears soaking his shirt as she cried, Chuck murmured softly that everything was going to be okay, that he'd take care of her. Her breathing finally becoming normal, she fell asleep next to Chuck.


End file.
